Morgan's Head in the foreground - Morgan's Ass (mentioned in last week's posting) in the background.

This week was traumatic.

The problem was that Los Ninos and I had agreed to do a pizza potluck night on board Eva Marie. Why would that be traumatic? - you might reasonably ask.

Potlucks in the cruising community can be a blood sport. There is serious competition amongst the cruising ladies to prepare the most incredible edibles possible. And, they bring vast technological, creative and financial resources to bear in support of their efforts - including, but in no way limited to, an incredibly diverse array of provisions, large refrigerators and freezers, microwaves, blenders, food processors etc etc.

I, as a single-handed GUY cruiser, am completely immune to all of this. If I show up wearing a clean(ish) shirt and carrying a bowl of popcorn, I have vastly exceeded all expectations. They don't know that I CAN actually cook and that it is only the combination of a desire for a simpler life, decidedly uninspired provisioning and pure laziness which usually preclude me joining in the fray and competing openly.

I do have to admit, however, to feeling no shame whatsoever in swooping in after the battle to loot, pillage and otherwise enjoy the spoils of war.

The difference this time was that on both Rode Trip and Eva Marie it is "the guys" that are the cooks! And, worse yet, their resources were essentially the same as my own. Rode Trip would score a 4 on the Camping Scale - just the same as KR - Eva Marie one notch higher. They do have refrigeration - and cold beer. That's why we voted for them to host the event, needless to say.

Now, this pizza night was NOT, we assured each other, a competition. Uh-huh. Right.

We all knew better.

When two boats cruise together that isn't a competition either - or so we tell each other. "We are just going to slowly sail our course." "We like to relax when we sail." "There is no need to get there early." We certainly don't want to overstress our gear and take a chance on breaking something." These are the kind of things that are said and, at the time of saying, meant. Why then do such cruises always end up being a race? Sure, no one is pulling out a bearing compass to measure the competition's progress (at least not obviously) and all sail tweaking is done casually - appearing as just a calm walk around the deck and certainly husbands never yell at their wives to "hold the damn course!" But, rest assured, with guys it is always a race!

Worse yet, Brian, being a very accomplished baker, was starting out with a serious advantage. This was head to head competition - there were no handicaps!

And so, this Pizza Night was not to be taken lightly.

Brian took an early lead, crossing the line first by arriving with his pizza fully baked and beautiful and, having an excess of raw materials, actually arrived with 1-1/4 pizzas! The sculpted thick crust was professional quality, the toppings; red sauce, corn and black bean salsa and mozzarella cheese an interesting and excellent combination. I think it is fair to say that he never really gave up the lead. However, as first my pizza, a focaccia bread crust with oven roasted red peppers, garlic and red onions as well as green olives, capers and parmesan cheese, then Dave's, thick crust with richly sautéed onions and mushrooms, red sauce and mozzarella cheese, came out of the oven we definitely kept the competitive pressure level high.

In the end result, of course, we all won, because with only 5 people and 3 excellent thick-crust pizzas we had much more than enough to eat (and plenty of cold beer to drink as well) and there was plenty of each pizza left over for all of the crews' dinners the next day.

It was a fun night.